Of late, Kalahandi is turning out to be the worst Maoist-hit district with the leftwing Extremists (lWEs) making it a soft target and scaling up their underground activities.
With influx of Maoists from Chhattisgarh to Odisha through a porous border, strength of the ultras in the district is reportedly increasing, sources said.
While two divisions of the Maoists are active in Kalahandi, the district has been by rated as “severely affected”, Besides, Koraput and Malkangiri are also considered as “severely affected.”
In Kalahandi, the Kalahandi- Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) Division and Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Nagavali (BGN) Division of ultras are operating.
Out of 22 districts, which are affected by the Maoist activities, highest number of incidents is reported in Kalahandi. Of 68 incidents of Maoist violence during 2016 in the affected districts, at least 16 incidents were reported from Kalahandi alone.
In fact, 80 per cent of the violent incidents are reported from Kalahandi, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Kandhamal. With spurt of violent incidents and rise in killing of civilians, recently DGP KB Singh along with his team visited the Maoist zone and reviewed the situation, while assuring security for the civilians, who are under increasing threat.
During last year, at least three civilians were killed in the hands of the Maoists. They are branding the innocent civilians as police informers and killing them, sources said.
The district police are also active and with the support of Special Operation Group (SOG) and District Voluntary Force (DVF), they are taking up anti Maoist operations, which has resulted in elimination of five Maoists in 2016, sources said.
looking at the alarming situation, deployment of more Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)s is the need of the hour and the State Government is repeatedly urging the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for two more Battalions of CAPFs to be deployed in the border areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
However, the MHA is yet to respond to the request of the State Government, while slapping over Rs 2,500 crore bills towards deployment charges of CAPFs in the State, which has been repeatedly objected by the State administration.
Chhattisgarhi ultras are not only infiltrating but also trying to recruit young tribals for the cadre in Niyamgiri and adjoining areas.
However, the Maoists are not getting similar support from the other districts and youths are declining to join with them, said sources.
And their support base is also declining in the State and with bigger presence of Central Forces, lWE activities are bound to go down, said a top cop engaged in anti-Maoist operations.